duct boosters

[stl]

I have one room on my second story that stays pretty cold in the winter and down right miserable in the summer. This room does not seem to get very good air flow. It is the second junction off the main line. The other rooms on the second story are farther away and get better flow. I have looked through all of the ducts and see no obstructions. The only thing I can figure is there are more elbows in this line than any of the others. What are your opinions on those duct boosters. would they be beneficial in my situation. I don't see any other way of eliminating those elbows. Seems like I should be able to put them in myself. Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: duct boosters

Have you tried restricting the air flow to the rooms that have good flow? Sounds as if the system needs balanced. The dampers/difusers in the vents are there for that purpose. As for the eblbows, yes they do reduce the airflow for each one.

If you are going to try a duct booster, it should be placed as close to the main line as possible. I would try restircting the other vents first to balance the system. Also is there a return for the air in that room? If that room is shut up with no way for the air to return could be a problem as well. Keeping a door open should tell. If it is shut, the room will be a different temp than the others, if the door is open to allow the air to return to another CAR (cold air return), the room should be close in temp to the other rooms.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: duct boosters

I've never heard of a 'duct booster'...what does this thing look like?
Separately, and similarly to what SS mentioned you might have a in-duct/pipe flow gate partially closed thus restricting your airflow to that room.
Follow it back to your furnace and look for the little flow handle and make sure it is pointing in the direction of the duct and not at right angles to it.
As well make sure that all of the joints have duct tape on them to limit your flow losses.
One thing we did on our exposed (basement) ducts in our older home was we insulated all of them to minimize heat loss into the cool basement...probably adds a couple of degrees to the flow leaving the basement.
My two bits.
BP

 

[mscher]

Re: duct boosters

I have one room on my second story that stays pretty cold in the winter and down right miserable in the summer. This room does not seem to get very good air flow. It is the second junction off the main line. The other rooms on the second story are farther away and get better flow. I have looked through all of the ducts and see no obstructions. The only thing I can figure is there are more elbows in this line than any of the others. What are your opinions on those duct boosters. would they be beneficial in my situation. I don't see any other way of eliminating those elbows. Seems like I should be able to put them in myself. Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Some home improvment stores sell a duct booster fan unit, that basically replaces the heat register. Just plugs in to a regular electrical outlet. About $60.

Might be worth a try before you get out the tin snips.

http://giftindex.net/airflowbreeze.html

 

[stl]

Re: duct boosters

There is no return for the second floor. My wife's cousin stopped by the other day. He worked in hvac for a number of years. His opinion is that those duct boosters are a waste of money and electric. we have another room up there that we rarely use so we had the vent closed. His opinion was that we should keep everything open and all of the bedroom doors open as well. I figured since we don't use the one room much I would keep it closed adding more air flow to the other rooms. Last night I opened everything up and it still seems like I am getting a weaker air flow to the problem room. I think part of the problem is this part of the house gets no shade as the other rooms do. But in the winter the room is still cooler than the others. Any opinions on my wife's cousins theory?

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: duct boosters

stl do you have windows in that room? How many? thermopane?
If they are older windows, particulary wood frame sliding verticals then they are notorious for leaking air.
To at least maintain the heat you give it I would consider adding some very good weatherstripping and maybe storm windows to it. Or the cheaper version is the inner plastic (heat shrunk) to the window frame.
These measure are surprisingly effective without spending a lot of dough.
My two bits.
BP

 

[dimock44]

Re: duct boosters

There is no return for the second floor. My wife's cousin stopped by the other day. He worked in hvac for a number of years. His opinion is that those duct boosters are a waste of money and electric. we have another room up there that we rarely use so we had the vent closed. His opinion was that we should keep everything open and all of the bedroom doors open as well. I figured since we don't use the one room much I would keep it closed adding more air flow to the other rooms. Last night I opened everything up and it still seems like I am getting a weaker air flow to the problem room. I think part of the problem is this part of the house gets no shade as the other rooms do. But in the winter the room is still cooler than the others. Any opinions on my wife's cousins theory?

Ask the cousin to put an air scoop in the duct line to force more air into that run. No cost just labor. Closing vents is ok as long as you don't slow the airflow down to much. Could cause icing or early motor failure. Easiest fix is insulation,caulking, and window shading. Adding extra insulation is the fastest payback. Check the epa site for Government recommended amount. Local insulation Companys often don't recomend as much.

 

[PAkev]

Re: duct boosters

I had a similar problem where my duct went from 12" square to 8" round and then back to square. We put put a "thermal air circulator" (I believe is what they are called) on the round segment about two years ago.... it works great!

The one I installed also has a thermostat and timer which only runs the fan when it senses heat from the forced hot air and continues running for about 5 min after the duct temp drops to discharge warm air remaining in the duct.
If I remember correctly, it was to the tune of about $50. Also lucky that I was able to hard wire it into a junction box on a floor joist which was only about 6 feet away. Just make sure you position the fan in the corrcect direction or you current problem will prevail.